REVIEW: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

On the day Liz
Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in
physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running
her Mercedes off the road.

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide
that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up?
Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this
heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and
devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass,
acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and
even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it
now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What
does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a
mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang’s haunting
and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman,
and Jay Asher.

When I first heard about Falling into Place, I wasn’t really
interested in it. I think books about mental illness and suicide are incredibly
important, but at the time I just wasn’t feeling it. Then when I was up in
Sydney for Book Expo Australia, the lovely Ebony posted a photo on Instagram of
the book and mentioned how much she’d enjoyed it. Then the wonderful Michelle
bought herself a copy and read the blurb out loud, and then I knew I had to
have it.

Without a doubt, the best thing about this book is the
writing. I’m pretty sure this has been mentioned in every review I’ve read, but
it’s honestly true. The writing is beautiful and almost lyrical. On the back of
the book is says that this will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman
and Jay Asher (I haven’t read any Jay Asher), but I think Amy Zhang’s writing
is completely unique. Maybe fans of those authors will like this book, but I do
think any of them can even begin to compare to Amy Zhang.

The story is sort of strange, in the sense that it’s told in
an odd order. It’s not your typical start to end novel, it jumps around in the
timeline so that you learn things in particular orders. Sometimes I’m a fan of
this, sometimes I’m not but in this case I definitely am. I don’t think the
story would have worked half as well if it had been told in chronological
order. It meant there was a little mystery surrounding the events.

Moving onto the characters now. Liz Emerson is a bitch,
there is no other way to put it. We’re talking straight up, life ruining bitch
here. She is the sort of girl you do not want at your high school. Despite
this, I actually didn’t completely hate her – as I learnt more and more about her,
I felt more sympathetic to her and I understood why she did some of the things
she did. I wasn’t so fussed on her two friends, but I think I would have had to
learn more about them to decide.

The only thing that stopped this from being a five star for
me was the ending. Obviously, I don’t what to spoil anything for anyone who
hasn’t read this but I don’t know. I think I was expecting more the end.
Overall, I did really, really enjoy this though.